Mentalist Episode Tag: There Will be Blood, 5x16
by Donnamour1969
Summary: Lisbon contemplates what it all means. Spoilers, 5x16. A hint of Jisbon.


A/N: In some ways this episode was disappointing, in that we got no real new information on Red John. It was satisfying that Lorelei was dead (Ding-Dong!), and at Red John's hands. But what still made this episode great for me was the evolution of the Jane/Lisbon relationship. Read this tag and you'll see my thoughts, presented through Lisbon's mind, but I do want to say, as I did to my Twitter friends, Jane's last line was one of his best ever. I'll try to explain what I mean here:

**Episode Tag: "There Will be Blood," 5x16**

Lisbon believed him now.

_She had it comin'_, he'd said.

If she'd thought before Jane was a cold-hearted bastard, those words at Lorelei's demise confirmed it for her. He'd been using Lorelei all along, just as he'd said, and Lisbon had wasted too many tears and sleepless nights wondering about it. But he was the original boy who cried wolf as far as lying went. He'd lied to her so damn much that she couldn't believe him when he'd finally told her the truth. That, of course, was his fault. She was totally justified in her doubt.

But why had this lie, out of countless others, bothered her so much?

Because he'd hurt her by sleeping with Lorelei? Because she was jealous? Because it had frightened her, the lengths he would go to get Red John? All of it was true, if she was being truthful with herself.

She pondered his reaction to the brutal death of Red John's girl. He couldn't have become so immune to seeing the red smiling face that he'd had no emotion upon seeing it above Loralei's head. This was a woman he'd been intimate with. He'd murmured a half-hearted apology to her corpse, and walked coldly away. Where were the tears, the guilt? The outrage? The sadness that one more young woman had fallen victim to the murderer's blade? It was eerily similar to his reaction upon seeing James Panzer's mutilated body. Almost like…satisfaction.

_She had it comin'._

Lisbon supposed, that in Jane's mind, Loralei had deserved what she'd got. He had sent her out on a mission, released her from prison to lead him to Red John. He's risked his freedom and his relationships with his colleagues once again in pursuit of vengeance. But Lorelei had betrayed him. She'd lied. She'd killed another of Red John's minions, snatching witnesses right out of his hands, and he'd had to watch it happen all over again. Just like Hardy. Just like Rebecca. Just like Todd Johnson. Lorelei had betrayed Jane, and obviously the serial killer had felt the same way. Her usefulness to both of them was over.

_She had it comin'._

As with Panzer, Jane and Red John were of the same mind, and that was more terrifying to Lisbon than his sleeping with the enemy. Panzer had had it coming too.

She wondered now with much trepidation where Jane went from here. With Lorelei gone, that was another dead end, literally. He had his list, she supposed. He'd likely spend more time in that attic of his, and she had no idea what to do with him now. He'd gone far beyond words of anger and desire for Red John's death. She could handle that before, when she knew it was coming from the intense pain of losing his family. But she didn't know where he really was in his thoughts anymore. This was something infinitely more convoluted and disturbing. Jane seemed to be playing a parallel game with Red John now. But what was the prize?

Lisbon's own thoughts on the subject of vengeance, after being touched personally by the killer, were a bit murkier now. Her experience with Volker had given her keen insight into Jane's feelings. Her own desires for justice now seemed just as confused as his. She was helping him help Lorelei to help him. It was dizzying. She'd skirted and even broken the law to aid him in his quest, and somewhere along the way, the law no longer mattered as much as Jane's loyalty and honesty with her. She wanted Red John now, dead or alive-she didn't care, just so Jane was free of him. But her overriding desire was that Jane come out of this alive.

What a difference a decade made.

Someday, when she was finally fired for helping him, or maybe even caught in the crossfire and dead like Lorelei, she wondered what everyone would say about her. She'd believed in a crazy, obsessed sociopath, and had followed him to her demise like every one of Red John's dead minions. She'd loved him blindly. She'd sacrificed her career or even her life for him.

_She had it comin'._

Lisbon could only pray to God that things would turn out differently than she feared. But at least for now, she could sleep tonight, knowing that Jane had told her the truth.

At least this time.

**A/N: In some ways, my Jisbon heart rejoices that the path is even freer now for them to find one another. There's still some dread for the future in the Red John saga, but upcoming spoilers seem promising. Thanks for reading this tag. I'll be answering last week's reviews very soon. **


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